After a DNF in the final round knocked it out of contention last year, Kanagawa University led the qualifiers for November's National University Men's Ekiden from the most competitive region in Japan to win the Kanto Region Qualifier Sunday in Urawa, Saitama.
With six schools from Kanto already seeded for Nationals after taking the top six spots last year twenty more lined up in Urawa for four heats of 10000 m on the track, two runners from each school per heat. The combined times of each school's eight runners would determine who would stay and who would go come November, the top nine teams on aggregate time making the cut. With the four heats graded by time the first heat established the early favorites, runners from Kanagawa, Tokai University and Daito Bunka University taking the top three spots.
Heat 2 went out bafflingly slow, with one exception. Running alone, Juntendo University senior Kento Hanazawa fearlessly went it alone, opening up a 300 m lead at one point a…
With six schools from Kanto already seeded for Nationals after taking the top six spots last year twenty more lined up in Urawa for four heats of 10000 m on the track, two runners from each school per heat. The combined times of each school's eight runners would determine who would stay and who would go come November, the top nine teams on aggregate time making the cut. With the four heats graded by time the first heat established the early favorites, runners from Kanagawa, Tokai University and Daito Bunka University taking the top three spots.
Heat 2 went out bafflingly slow, with one exception. Running alone, Juntendo University senior Kento Hanazawa fearlessly went it alone, opening up a 300 m lead at one point a…